
Navy leaders on Thursday admitted at a hearing that the FY 2021 shipbuilding budget request numbers slows the service’s goal of reaching 355 ships. The Navy’s FY ’21 shipbuilding request seeks eight battle force ships for $20 billion, down four ships and from $24 billion from the previous year. It particularly includes only one Virginia-class attack submarine, despite previous plans to buy two this year. Last year, the Navy requested three attack submarines before Congress reduced that to two concurrent…